The Best Kept Secret
by WWEChickXD
Summary: Dr. Harrison Wells has had many secrets throughout his life - but none so powerful and exciting as his metachild. WARNING: Possible corporal punishment in later chapters.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

Dr. Harrison Wells was a man of secrets. He never intended to be, but it was in his nature. He constantly felt that he needed to keep anything and everything to himself, and it was a great struggle to share information with other scientists or colleagues. His own team at S.T.A.R. Labs knew this, but accepted it, trusting that the doctor would keep them safe as we he always had.

This was why he was having such a difficult time keeping his metachild a secret.

He had found her stumbling through the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs a week after they had found Barry Allen - a girl of 16, injured and entirely confused by everything. The only people still in the building was himself and a team of security guards, but they were no where to be seen. He watched, bewildered, as she continually frightened herself by accidentally moving objects without touching them. _Telekinesis… _Dr. Wells recognized.

The girl finally caught sight of him, and passed out before any conversation between them could be made; it was nearly two years before she woke up again.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One **

Glass doors slid open, revealing Dr. Harrison Wells to no one but the unconscious girl in her usual place on the large hospital bed. What had once been a messy pixie cut accenting her girlish face had grown out to her elbows. Her features had matured, and she no longer looked like a girl, but as a young woman; she still, however, held a sense of youthfulness.

Dr. Wells wondered, as he did every day, when the girl called Ronnie was finally going to wake up. He had seen the power she had been blessed with, and he knew she had the potential to be virtually unstoppable. With the proper training and upbringing, they would have a very valuable asset on their hands.

He also thought about his team and how they would react to his metachild. He knew they'd be furious that he'd kept her a secret for nearly two years. Harrison had planned on many occasions to finally come clean to Caitlin and Cisco, but every time the opportunity arose, his primal instinct to keep his secret overcame his desire to be honest and he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew they'd be hurt; he would lose their trust and he couldn't bare to think of how that would feel.

Though they'd never spoken, the doctor held a special fondness for Ronnie and considered her his own. He'd searched for her parents, using a DNA sample, but they had been killed by a head on collision the night of the particle accelerator explosion. He felt it was his duty to care for her, as her parents death was caused partially by his invention. He waited patiently for her to wake up, but couldn't help but feel a little frustrated from time to time concerning her unexplained, prolonged nap.

As he gave her the daily vitamin shots she required, a loud 'blip' rang out from the computer. He glanced over, not expecting to see much, and gasped at the change in brain wave patterns. Her heart beat picked up speed and her breathing quickened. He reached for a stethoscope, but only grabbed air as the item in question began to levitate.

She was finally waking up.

* * *

"I've told you a thousand times, Cisco," Barry Allen assured his friend, "I love the suit. I've loved the suit for almost a year and I will continue loving the suit. If that changes, you will be the first to know."

Cisco turned a critical eye towards the Flash suit. It _was _a great suit, but that didn't mean that there wasn't room for improvement; everything had potential for improvement.

Caitlin looked up from Barry's blood sample and smiled at her boys. They never failed to amuse her.

"Have either of you seen Dr. Wells today?" She asked them. They shook their heads, and Caitlin shrugged it off. As a naturally mothering figure, she sometimes had to remember that the doctor was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and didn't usually need her to worry over him.

As they continued their bickering, Caitlin continued to analyze the blood sample. She did this every morning, just to make sure Barry was still operating healthily and normally. As she went to reach for the computer mouse to input the data, she let out a little shriek as the mouse and several other items around the lab abandoned the laws of gravity.

The boys, alerted by Caitlin's shriek, gasped at floating objects around them. Barry poked a beaker, sending it spinning away from him at the impact of his touch; Cisco looked around with a grin on his face, watching the situation happening around him with childlike excitement.

Caitlin wasted no time calling Dr. Wells over the intercom. "Dr. Wells, we have a situation up here," she shouted, "Objects are levitating, please tell me this is your fault!"

A couple seconds passed without reply, until finally the doctor's deep voice cackled over the intercom. "Children, I need you to come down to my private lab immediately," he said, sounding both excited and nervous. "Ignore the floating objects and be prepared for a bit of a metaphorical shock."

Though confused at the pet name and situation taking place, the three wasted no time in hurrying down to Harrison's private lab. They had never been allowed down there, much less invited. The glass doors slid open and allowed them inside, but they all stopped short at the pair of bright blue eyes that greeted them.

"Who are you?" Caitlin asked immediately, feeling very cautious of the intruder. _Was _she an intruder?

"My name is Ronnie McArthur," she murmured, her voice raspy and weak, like she'd just woken up. Before any other conversation could be made, Dr. Wells came rolling in on his electric wheelchair.

No one spoke. His team had questions; many questions that he had to answer. This experience was so new - never had he ever felt that he owed anyone an explanation. He'd never been that close with anyone, save his late wife. Now he had three young people who thrived contentedly under his care, trusting him - and now he had to fracture that trust.

"Almost two years ago, when Barry was in his coma and you two had gone home for the night, I found Ronnie stumbling around these halls," Harrison began. "She was confused and hurt. The explosion affected her, she can control matter - something known as telekinesis - as you've already seen. I meant to tell you, I honestly did," he was quick to say, seeing the disbelief if their eyes - Caitlin's in particular. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when it happened."

"What if she'd been a crazed killer, Harrison?" Caitlin scolded, absolutely furious. "I understand that you have your secrets and that's fine, we all do, but this is too much. You put us all in danger, including yourself." Too angry to continue, she turned and stormed out of the lab. Barry didn't know what to say and quietly excused himself, speeding out in a streak of red light.

Dr. Wells sighed deeply and removed his glasses from his face, rubbing his tired eyes. Ronnie watched him with concern, and looked over at Cisco, as if to imply, _Do something. _

Cisco wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, she didn't look like a danger, and Dr. Wells usually knew what he was doing; but they were a _team. _Teams did not hide huge, potentially dangerous secrets from each other. He remembered a time when he'd been in the doctor's position, upon creating a cryonic gun as a fail-safe in case Barry turned out to be a psycho killer. The whole thing went awry, and while the doctor had been strict with him, he'd also forgiven him. Cisco appreciated that more than Dr. Wells knew.

"I'm...a little hurt that you were caring for a metahuman without telling us," Cisco said slowly. "It really could have turned out badly. But she seems nice enough," he looked over at Ronnie and smiled, receiving a shy smile from girl in return, "and I too have made the mistake of putting you all at risk all because I didn't want to admit that I'd done something dangerous." He bent down and hugged the doctor, receiving a firm embrace in return. "So I totally forgive you, Dr. Wells."

Harrison smiled and felt relief flood his system. "Thank you, Cisco," he uttered softly, not

giving his voice the chance to crack. When the young engineer stood straight again, he pretended not to notice the slight shine in the doctor's eyes.

"I really am proud of you, I hope you know that," Dr. Wells added. "You've grown so much in the short years I've known you, both in who you are and as a mechanical engineer. You and Caitlin leave me speechless at least once a week."

Cisco laughed and grinned, feeling a blush creep up his neck. Deciding to change the subject (as compliments were difficult for him to accept), he hopped up onto the hospital bed beside Ronnie.

"I'm Cisco," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm the coolest guy here, in this crazy institution."

Ronnie giggled and put her hand in his. Harrison watched the two converse for a while before leaving them to seek out his other surrogate child - one who was not so easy swayed to forgiveness.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Caitlin Snow considered herself a fairly level-headed person. She constantly put up with the ridiculous shenanigans that took place in and out of STAR Labs. She'd been there to keep her team as healthy and safe as possible, always followed the rules that Dr. Wells put in place; she felt that with all the work she put into her job and into being a good employee, she deserved to know when there was a potentially hazardous situation going on around her.

_How could he have kept this from us for two years? _she thought in disbelief. It still boggled her mind. _How could he? _

She heard the lab doors slide open but ignored it. She wanted nothing to do with Dr. Wells right now. Hurt and fury radiated off of her in waves, and Caitlin hoped that it was enough to keep him away. Of course, Dr. Wells braved the storm. This wasn't the first time she'd been angry with him. He steered his chair around hers and stopped directly in front of her, and tried to make eye contact. Caitlin avoided his eyes entirely, and instead stared at a table of beakers left of him.

Harrison sighed and tried to think of what to do. He knew he'd made a mistake; he regretted it deeply and wished he could go back and change it. He understood Caitlin's anger. He'd felt it when Cisco had hid the cryonic gun from them. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to her; Cisco had made his apology easy, but Caitlin was a much more difficult situation. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, ready to apologize; Caitlin, however, had other plans.

"I know what you're about to say," she murmured, still not looking at him. "You're going to apologize and say how much you wish you could go back and do something differently, but that's not true." Harrison looked up at her, confused. She continued, "It's in your nature to hide things from people. I don't know why, but it is; no matter how much you wish you'd told us about Ronnie, you would still have done the same thing even if you were given a thousand chances to change it."

Dr. Wells was silent. He knew that wasn't true, but he didn't know how to explain it. Two years ago, things had been different. Caitlin and Cisco had only been his team and nothing more. Barry had brought them all together as friends, and he was so appreciative of that. Gently, he placed his hands over Caitlin's and was relieved when she didn't pull away. "That isn't true for one very good reason, Caitlin," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Two years ago I didn't think of you two as family."

She finally made eye contact with him, and he continued, "I don't want to hide things from you. Sometimes it's necessary, but I've been doing my best. I care so much about you, Cisco and Barry and I couldn't bare to think about losing your trust."

Dr. Wells grinned at the sudden armful of bioengineer.

"I'm sorry, Harrison," she said quietly, hugging him tight.

"Don't be, I'm the one apologizing here," he chuckled. He grew serious before continued. "Since we're currently in the business of coming clean about things, there's something else I've been wanting to show you." Caitlin pulled back and watched him with curious eyes. Rolling over to a counter, he locked his wheelchair in place and placed his hands onto the hard granite surface. Caitlin almost stopped him, worried that he would fall and hurt himself, but something stopped her. With a great deal of effort, Dr. Wells hoisted himself up into a standing position, and leaned against the counter. Slowly, he weaned himself off of the crutch and stood on his own, looking proud and utterly exhausted. He grinned over at Caitlin before settling back down into his wheelchair. "I began to feel a tingling in my legs about two weeks ago," he panted, trying to slow his breathing. "I didn't want to say anything in case it was a fluke, but as the days passed, more and more feeling came back to these useless appendages. I don't know how or why, but I'm healing, Caitlin."

She was utterly speechless for a good 30 seconds before shooting up from her chair, mumbling something about tissue samples and lab work.

Harrison, feeling content, sat back and let her do her work.

* * *

*2 Hours Earlier*

Harrison watched his metachild's eyes flutter open and dart around confusedly before finally settling on himself. She shot up from her bed, but immediately fell back down - two years of no muscle action had rendered her virtually helpless. She looked terrified, but Harrison was quick to try and fix the situation.

"Breathe, Ronnie, everything is fine," he insisted calmly, "You've been in a coma for a very long time and you're body is just a little shocked, that's all."

Instead of that, however, Ronnie went into instant panic mode as her powers went out of control and flew about around them. She screamed and jumped off of the bed, crumbling onto the floor as her weak legs buckled under her weight. Harrison leaped out of his wheelchair and kneeled down next to her, grabbing her wrists and demanding eye contact.

"Veronica Monroe," he spoke firmly, "you will stop this and breathe with me. In and out, darling." She released a breathy sob as she heard his words and tried desperately to copy his breathing. Finally, she calmed, but nothing around them returned to their rightful places. Before Harrison could try and help her figure out her dilemma, Caitlin's voice echoed throughout the lab via intercom. "Dr. Wells, we have a situation up here," she shouted, "Objects are levitating, please tell me this is your fault!"

He ignored her for a moment and helped Ronnie back onto the bed. "I'm going to explain everything to you in time," he assured her, "And I will do all I can to help you control your powers. Right now I have to introduce you to some very good friends of mine." He smiled at her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze before returned to his wheelchair and going over to the intercom.

_What an odd man, _Ronnie thought to herself. _I can tell he's some sort of doctor. How long have I been in this coma? I can barely lift my arms; my muscle is going to take forever to rebuild. Am I safe here? I feel safe but that in no way means that I am. I wonder who the girl over the intercom was. If he can walk then why does this odd doctor use a wheelchair? _A hundred and one thoughts sped through Ronnie's head as she sat on the bed. She wondered where her parents were; did they even know where she was?


End file.
